A New Hope
by inferno3000
Summary: When Ichigo dies in the real world, what would happen to his soul in Soul Society?NEXT CHAPTER FINALLY UP!
1. A New Life

DISCLAIMER : I do not own Bleach

**A NEW BEGINNING**

Blood splattered all over the ground just in front of Ichigo as he fell to his knees. He knew that if he didn't manage to get out of his body, he would die. He grimaced as the Hollow before him pulled its claws from his body. As he looked up at the monstrosity that was about to end his life, he realised that he wasn't scared at all. Wasn't everyone in Soul Society already dead? If that was the case, what did he have to worry about? Surely that meant that he would have a second chance as a deceased soul in Seireitei. He felt a terrible pain lance through his chest and then all was black.

Rukia was looking out onto the school grounds through the class window thinking about the Ichigo, he had just left several minutes ago when she had felt a Hollow appear several streets away. She was only half listening when the teacher asked her a question. Almost on autopilot, she turned around and opened her mouth to answer when she felt Ichigo's spirit pressure disappear. It took her several seconds to realise what this meant, when she did she swiveled in her chair and threw up into the aisle. She looked up at Chad, Inoue and Ishida and saw the shock in all their eyes. Without any warning she knocked back her desk and sprinted outside.

Hitsugaya frowned momentarily as he glanced up from his paperwork, he couldn't quite place it, but he felt that someone's spirit pressure had just disappeared. He couldn't figure out who's it was because it was so faint, it was like something that he had gotten so used to that he started taking it for granted, only to really notice it once it was gone. Shrugging, he decided to put it to the fact that he had been doing paperwork for several hours and it was just a trick of his mind.

In the 11th division headquarters, Zaraki Kenpachi faltered in his sparring which resulted in him nearly being hit by Ikakku's flailing sword. Realising that his error had threatened to put his reputation on the line, he ignored the feeling in his gut that something very bad had just happened.

Ukitake had long given up on trying to convince Rukia to do something. He was having a hard enough time preventing her from simply wallowing in her own grief all day. Rukia had returned to Soul Society several weeks ago, immediately returning to her previous squad and putting a face to the mystery spirit pressure. The fact that Ichigo, a friend of Soul Society, was dead had hit everyone hard. There wasn't one person in all of Seireitei that hadn't been shocked to hear the news. Despite the fact that there had already been a ceremony for Ichigo, Rukia seemed unwilling to let go. Ukitake sighed as he threw one last glance over at Rukia before he returned to his work.


	2. Awakening

Authors notes:

Hey everyone, i just wanna say thanks for reading my first fan fic and im sorry it was so short, il try to make this one a little longer.

If any of you guys want me to do a story on some specific characters, send me a review with the characters names on it and your email if you want me to send you a copy

cheers

**A NEW HOPE pt2**

It was dawn. The first few rays of the sun that were cast out into Rukongai fell upon a man lying on in the middle of the street, illuminating his bright red hair. Groaning, his eyes began to open to the intruding rays of light. He slowly sat up and instantly regretted it. "AAAAARRGH!" he screamed as pain lanced through his chest, he fell to the ground writhing as an image that was so clear he felt as if there was nothing else in the world consumed his mind.

_Blood splattered all over the ground just in front of him as he fell to his knees. He grimaced as the Hollow before him pulled its claws from his body._

The minutes stretched out as the man lay motionless on the floor. The flashback had long since subsided, but it had left him with no energy whatsoever. He could barely breath, let alone move. Thinking about the memory as he lay there, he knew that the man who was dying was him. He briefly considered what this meant before he gave in to the blackness that was advancing into his sight...

"_Is he going to be OK?"_

"_Of course, he's just new here is all. It's always hard when you have just arrived."_

"_So he'll be alright?"_

"_Of course he will, don't worry."_

"_I'm sorry."_

"_You don't have anything to be sorry for. You wait here and keep an eye on him for me. I'm going to go make us some tea."_

These were the first things that he heard when as he lay on the verge of consciousness.

He opened one bleary eye to get an idea of where he was. He didn't try to sit up this time, he had already learnt his lesson. The first thing he saw was the roof. An impossibly dirty roof was above him. As he looked around, he realised that wherever he was at the moment, was a hole. The last thing that came into his sight was a boy. The boy had his back to him and hadn't noticed that the man was awake.

"Where am I?" asked the man.

"AAAA!" shrieked the boy as he jumped nearly his own height again off the floor. There was a pause as the child regained his breath. "You scared me."

"I sorta guessed that. Where am I though?"

The boy looked at the man who lying on the floor in sheer amazement.

"You are joking right?" he asked incredulously.

The man stared blankly back at him. "Do I look like I'm joking to you?"

The boy held the man's gaze for a second as this statement processed in his mind. "You can't have forgotten all the stuff that you did here," he said eventually.

"What are you talking about? I have no idea where I am or where I came from. Stop screwing around and just tell me won't you?"

Suddenly the conversation was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and the sight of a woman carrying two cups of tea. She looked at the man for several seconds with a blank face before she broke out into a grin.

"Good to see that you're awake now Ichigo."


	3. Revelations

**A NEW HOPE pt3**

The now christened, "Ichigo" stared blankly at the lady that had just walked in. He had no idea who she was or what she wanted.

"Ichigo?" Was the first thing he said. "There is no way in hell that you are calling me strawberry."

The woman laughed softly, handed one of the tea cups to the boy and took a sip from her own.

"I think you may have a hard time getting people to stop calling you that. But you can try if you want." Her eyes twinkled as she took another sip of the steaming tea.

Ichigo glanced over at the boy. He was looking into his tea as if nothing else existed. Ichigo got the feeling that this sort of absent mindedness was part of the boys nature.

Looking back at the lady, he said. "You still haven't answered my question. Where am I and what am I doing here?"

"You are dead Ichigo." She paused for a moment to allow this to sink in. Then paused for another when she noticed that it was taking some time. When she was satisfied that he had come to terms with what she had just said, she continued. "This is Soul Society, or as it is more commonly known as, Heaven."

Although what the lady was saying sounded completely bizarre, Ichigo couldn't help but believe her. Suddenly a question came to mind. "If this is heaven, does that mean that you are dead as well?"

She faltered, seemed to be caught off guard by the question. The moment was short lived as her normal composure was quickly restored. "Yes Ichigo. Everyone that you will see here is dead."

Ichigo again looked over at the kid, seeing him in a new light as he realised that he was dead. "Who are you two?" He asked eventually. The boy seemed to be surprised by the question, as if he thought that Ichigo should already know the answer, but the woman have anticipated it.

"That is Hanataro. I am Unohana Retsu." Hanataro nodded eagerly as his name was said.

Ichigo stared at Hanataro. The boy was shifting uneasily under his gaze. Ichigo felt that he knew him. He didn't know how, he just felt that this was something that he owed his life to. Shrugging the feeling off, Ichigo got to his feet.

"Are you feeling well Ichigo?" Asked Unohana as she watched Ichigo stand.

"Of course I am. I wouldn't get up otherwise would I."

Unohana and Hanataro exchanged glances.

"If that is the case. Then we should leave immediately."

"Where are we going now?"

Hanataro, who had still not gotten his head around the idea that Ichigo had no idea what was going on seemed to be once again stumped by Ichigo's bluntness.

Unohana smiled and said, "To Seireitei."

As they stepped outside into the blinding sunshine, they were met by another person. He had hair that was blood red and tattoos on his face. He grinned broadly at Ichigo. "Long time no see eh?"

Rukia looked out the window with a longing that she didn't realise she had the ability to conjure up. She still couldn't believe that Ichigo had been reborn in Soul Society. His enormous spirit pressure had been recognised by some shinigami that had been patrolling the worse off parts of Rukongai. They had immediately returned to report to their higher ups. It was quickly decided that someone needed to go and recover him before something happened. Rukia had been desperate to go on this mission but was forbidden to do so. It was decided that although this was a low risk mission, it was a mission nonetheless and that Rukia was too emotionally involved. Originally, Unohana Retsu had been sent to lead the mission with Hanataro following. The reasoning was, this is primarily a recovery mission. There would be no fighting or danger. Therefor, there was no need for hundreds of shinigami. Besides, Unohana was more than capable of handling any danger should the need arise. A third person was thrown into the group at the last second. The reason for this was that because Rukia was so concerned for the welfare of Ichigo but could not go herself, someone that she trusted would be sent along in her place. Hence the third.

Rukia breathed deeply as a gust of wind gently flowed through her raven hair. She hoped that they got back soon...


	4. The Greeting

Sorry about the wait peoples, i was away for a while, i didn't have the opportunity to update. Anyways, here it is. I hope you enjoy

cheers

**A NEW HOPE pt4**

Ichigo stared blankly at the newcomer. He couldn't figure out how everyone seemed to know him. The newcomer stared at Ichigo, turning to Unohana he asked, "What's wrong with him? He looked kinda out of it."

"He's lost his memory Renji," replied Unohana as she steered Ichigo out the door with Hanataro following close behind.

"Lost his memory huh? Sucks to be you," again he turned back to Unohana, "we headed back to Seireitei now Unohana-taichou?"

"Of course."

Unohana set a brisk pace as she strolled through the worse parts of Rukongai with Hanataro half jogging to keep up, Renji glaring at anyone or thing that looked even slightly suspicious and a very confused Ichigo walking after them.

"The group is on its way back now Rukia. They should arrive within the hour."

The words echoed around the room that Rukia was sitting in and although they made her look up at the messenger, they didn't seem to have any effect.

"You are dismissed."

The messenger was momentarily confused, he wondered why she still had that sad look on her face. From everything that he had heard, she almost obsessed over this strange strawberry man. Shrugging it off, he slid the door shut. It wasn't his place to question his superiors moods.

Back in the now sealed room, Rukia turned back to the window. It was true that her outward appearance hadn't changed, but anyone that knew her well enough could she that she was almost bursting with anticipation.

She permitted herself a small smile.

"Are we there yet?" whined Ichigo for the 50th time.

"No Ichigo, not yet. We will be there soon." Replied Unohana as she rubbed her temples to try to relieve the building headache. "Look, the gates are just over there. We will be there very soon."

Rukia could feel the spirit force of the small rescue team nearing the gates to Seireitei. She stood up and ran out the door towards it.

As the small group passed through the gates they were met by a large crowd. Ichigo could not recall ever having seen so many people in one place. As a result, he got a semblance of stage fright and subconsciously moved behind the three people that he knew best. He failed to notice a smaller group of people moving towards him. He did notice them when they crashed into him at speed. He was knocked to the ground by them as they performed something that was halfway between a group hug and a mad spear tackle.

Ichigo immediately lost all air in his lungs when he hit the ground and unfortunately for him, he couldn't regain it because he was at the bottom of an attempted hug that had turned into a dogpile.

He couldn't distinguish any one person from the group of people that was on him except for the person that was madly hugging his chest. Although they were both on the ground, he could tell that he was much taller than she was. She had jet black hair, he also noticed that she was shaking. It took him a moment to realise that she was crying. She didn't seem to be sad. On the contrary, she seemed ecstatic. This was all he noticed before more weight seemed to be added to the already crushing pile. It seemed that some of the crowd had decided to join in. He could see many people in the melee but some seemed to stand out. The girl on his chest, a completely bald man, a child that had pink hair, a huge man with an eyepatch, a lady with huge... assets and a boy with white hair just to name a few. All of them were laughing, he got he feeling that he knew most of the people that were lying on top of him although he couldn't put a name to them. For the first time in his new memory, he felt safe.

Authors notes:

Thanks for reading this far, im kinda surprised i got such a good response for my first fic but hey. Again i am sorry about the chapters being so short, i just keep getting to the moments that i have to end it at. I promise the next one will be longer though

cheers everyone


	5. Bad Dreams

I know that I set this story to completed, but i decided to change it back to in progress cos i like writing it so much.

Again, cheers to everyone that has read this far

**A NEW HOPE pt5**

_You will be going to school. It is important that your incredible abilities don't go to waste._

This was one thing that Ichigo had heard several times since he had arrived in Seireitei. People also kept saying that he was a hugely skilled warrior. He couldn't remember a thing about him fighting these "hollows".

He was told that he had meant to be studying. He had no idea what, but its the thought that counts. When he had heard that particular order, he had immediately decided that he really couldn't be bothered, and that he would much rather explore all the buildings and meet people.

He didn't remember many things from his previous life, but one thing that he had a very distinct feeling about was Rukia. Over the last few days, he hadn't been able to think of much else.

He had constantly drifted to her apartments, he was surprised when this had first happened. He had just been walking and thinking when he realised that he was standing outside someones quarters and he had already knocked on the door. Since then, he had gone there at least once a day. _How much my life has changed over the last few days,_ he thought as he rose his hand to knock on the door. All these thoughts instantly evaporated as he heard a scream from inside.

"_Its OK Rukia, I'm fine. Really. GET OFF ME!" A list of profanities started rolling out of Ichigo's mouth as he tied a bandage around his injured arm. Rukia looked on, worried. _

"_Are you sure that you don't need any help?" she inquired._

"_I am fine." came the curt reply._

_He stood up, (Rukia noticed that he used his sword for support). Once he was standing, he walked over to his body and re entered it. With this completed, he started the long walk back to their house. Rukia didn't realise that she was still standing in the same place, watching him. She was just thinking about the sudden Hollow outbreak. They weren't really that much of a threat to Ichigo with his strength, but she still worried about him. He turned around, a cheeky grin on his face. "You comin' or what?"_

_She returned the grin, they had become very close since she had returned from Soul Society. She opened her mouth to reply when she saw a ripple in the air behind him. It looked like a heat haze, except heat hazes don't usually appear in Autumn... Suddenly, she knew what the ripple was. Her half formed reply turned into a scream of warning._

_Ichigo looked confused, he turned around to see the now visible hollows claw rushing towards his chest. There was a sickening thud as the claws slid into his body. He turned his head to look at Rukia, surprise plastered on his face. The hollow shifted and Ichigo coughed. A trickle of blood ran out the corner of his mouth. He whispered three words. Despite all the other noise, Rukia couldn't have heard them any better. _

"_I'm sorry Rukia."_

_The hollow withdrew its claws and raised its arm for the final blow. Rukia realised that she couldn't move. She could only watch as the claws ripped into Ichigo._

Rukia woke up and sat upright, she was still screaming. Recently she had been seeing Ichigo's death in her dreams. Although she wasn't there when it actually happened, this didn't stop her mind from placing her next to him.

The door was smashed open as Ichigo applied force through his shoulder. He saw Rukia lying on her bed looking terrified and ran over to her. As he approached her, he grabbed her in a fierce hug. She instantly broke into tears.

They stayed like that for several minutes before she looked up into his eyes.

"Promise not to leave me ever again."

There was a long pause before Ichigo whispered, "I promise."

_Yep, _he thought. A real distinct feeling.

Authors notes:

Hey again, i know that it is real short... again, but i wanted to leave the next part for the next chapter. What you think? I had to change it a few times but hey, i think the final copy pretty good. Il promise to make the next one longer, but iv promised that with all of my chapters. We'll see what happens

thanks for reading, feel free to ask any questions or give any advice about the story, would be much appreciated

cheers


	6. Transfer

**A NEW HOPE pt6**

It had been three days since Ichigo had started school. He had already been swamped with work. From the beginning of his lessons, he had been placed in the "advanced" class. He wasn't really sure why, all the others in his class seemed to be much further ahead than him. It was true that his spirit pressure was much more powerful than most people, (he had recently been able to sense this), but all the other students had been studying for much longer than him and they all had much more control.

At the moment, his class was working on demon magic. They were meant to be attempting to use the first three ways of destruction, Ichigo was failing horribly. He wasn't too bad at the ways of binding, but he couldn't seem to grasp the ways of destruction. On top of all this, he wasn't the most popular guy in the class. Sure, everyone knew who he was, but this only made everyone wary of him. In fact, he had already made several enemies.

Ichigo watched with a resigned look on his face as his classmates destroyed target after target. Looking at his hands, he tried once more. Nothing.

"OK class, good work. I'm afraid that we are out of time. Tomorrow at the same time." Called the teacher from the edge of the range.

The class returned to their bags and started to leave. _Why can't I get this?_ Thought Ichigo as he did the same. He was walking through the corridors thinking about his problems with demon magic when he heard his name being called.

"ICHIGO!" Ichigo turned to see Takuya walking towards him. Recently, Ichigo and Takuya had been at each others throats over Ichigo's treatment. Takuya obviously thought Ichigo a snob who got to where he is by throwing money at the right people and not by skill. To worsen the problem, Ichigo had lost to Takuya in every class competition, including swordplay and demon arts, but Ichigo was still held in higher regard than him. Possibly because of this very point, Takuya never passed up an opportunity to rub his wins in Ichigo's nose.

"Oi! Ichigo! I saw how you did in that last class. Not doing too well huh?" Jeered Takuya. Ichigo said nothing and continued walking. Takuya pressed further, "You see me? I was destroying targets left and right." He paused for effect. Suddenly he said, "There is NO WAY you will beat me in anything Ichigo. You better learn that." Ichigo noticed that Takuya had suddenly gotten more aggressive and Ichigo had no idea why. "HEY! YOU LISTENING TO ME??? You better learn that a high FUCKIN' profile does not mean that you can walk around like you own the place!" Takuya suddenly yelled. His outburst startled Ichigo as well as several passers by. "I don't know what you did that makes you such a teachers pet, but you sure as hell shouldn't be in the advanced class." Suddenly, Takuya grabbed Ichigo and pushed him into the wall. Now cornered, Ichigo finally looked up at him.

"You will fuckin' listen to me when I'm talkin'. You understand?" Growled Takuya.

"Let me go." Came the reply.

"What did you say to me you little bitch?"

"Let me go...I won't say it again."

"What if I don't?"

Ichigo didn't realise what he was doing before it was too late. He broke Takuya's grip and shoved him away. Takuya looked stunned, then he broke out into an evil grin. People had begun to stop and form some semblance of a circle around the small conflict. Takuya suddenly started towards Ichigo, throwing a fist at his face. Ichigo moved through instinct more than thought. His arm came up and easily blocked the blow. Takuya was thrown off balance, and it took a second for Takuya to regain his balance, when he did, he came at Ichigo again. The punch to the stomach was easy enough to block, but this time, Ichigo came back with a counter attack. A light jab to the forehead exposed Takuya's throat, Ichigo did not waste the opportunity. Sidestepping and pivoting around him, Ichigo brought his elbow up into Takuya's throat. He immediately fell to the ground and started gasping for air. Ichigo looked on nonchalantly at Takuya's struggle. It was around this stage when he became aware of the people around him. As he looked up, they all stepped away from him. Looking back down at Takuya one last time, he strolled off again towards his dorm.

From slightly down the corridor, a shinigami was watching.

"I think that it's time for some sort of action."

"How is Ichigo's training coming along?" Came the deep voice of the 1st squad captain.

The small group of shinigami that had been placed in charge of the training and overseeing of Ichigo exchanged glances.

"Sir, he seems to be the same sort of person that he was when he invaded Seireitei. Impulsive and headstrong. He has amazing potential sir. It's just that the academy doesn't seem to be the best place for him to achieve it."

"Well? What do you suggest as the alternative?"

There was a slight pause.

"We suggest that Ichigo be temporarily placed into each squad. He should be trained by the captain and lieutenant of each squad."

Yamamoto raised an eyebrow.

"Uhh..ah...umm. We know that this is unprecedented, but we feel that this would be the best way for him to become the best that he can.

Authors notes:

woah, this is the longest chapter iv written so far, i sorta thrashed this out in one night. So it probably wont be its best, but smeh. Its done now.

IF ANYONE WANTS TO HAVE A COMBINATION (eg. Shunsui and Ichigo) TELL ME NOW

i dunno if il do all of the captains

anyways

cheers to all those who read this far


	7. The Announcement

**A NEW HOPE pt7 **

"There is NO way that I will that... that.. INCOMPITENT into my squad!" Yelled the frustrated captain of the 12th division. "He would do nothing but disrupt my experiments!"

The commander general slowly turned his head to the man who had just interrupted the officers meeting. Once he was satisfied that no-one would cut in again, he continued with his announcement.

"As I was saying, every squad will play host to the trainee Kurosaki Ichigo. It has been decided that this would be the best course of action in the context of training him to become a true shinigami."

Again, he looked around at the captains and their respective lieutenants. He saw several disgruntled faces in the ranks, but at the same time, some people seemed to be looking forward to this new challenge. The captains that looked to be annoyed by the announcement included, 2nd, 6th and 12th.

"Obviously, he will start at the 2nd division and work his way up. Captain Fong? Ichigo will be in your division headquarters when you return." Soi Fong managed to look even more annoyed at this statement than she was before. All the people around her took at least two steps back.

"As the captains and vice captains, you will choose how to train him while he is with you. Obviously you should try to train him in your divisions specialty wherever possible. He will leave your division when you are satisfied with his performance. You are all dismissed."

The officers fell out and left the building. Outside, Soi Fong released her anger on the closest thing at the time. That closest thing happened to be her lieutenant. He doubled in pain when her fist rammed into his stomach.

Unohana and Isane were discussing how Ichigo would be best put to work.

Byakuya immediately glided away leaving Renji no choice but to follow.

"What do you think of the idea captain?" Proposed Iba. Komamura merely grunted before strolling away.

Shunsui didn't say anything on the matter. In fact, he probably didn't know about the matter due to the fact that he had passed out near the beginning of the meeting from being so drunk. The only reason that no-one noticed was because "Nanao-chan" had managed to hold him upright. At the moment she was dragging him back towards the 8th headquarters muttering profanities under her breath.

Matsumoto had started jumping up and down with excitement whilst babbling about having someone in her division that she could talk to that wasn't as cold as her captain. Said captain was trying to stop her from jumping because it was causing a scene and drawing every male eye to them.

Mayuri had already left with Nemu.

Kenpachi was grinning evilly while thinking about all the fights that he could have with Ichigo in the time that he had him in his division. Yachiru was just as excited. She seemed to think that Ichigo would bring endless supplies of candy with him.

Ukitake was the last to leave. Having no lieutenant, he wasn't sure about what how he would cope with a new person in his squad. _I could always put him somewhere with Rukia for a while. That would give me some peace and quiet._ He grinned at the thought, then realised what he was saying and shook himself back to his senses and began the long walk back to his office. All the while, thinking about how Ichigo would fare with the other captains.

Waiting patiently in the 2nd division headquarters, was Ichigo. He wasn't really sure of what to expect from the head of the special ops. He just hoped that he wouldn't be too harsh. But then again, how could he not be? Head of special forces probably did require some menace. That thought entering his mind opened the floodgates. More and more ideas about how evil this captain would be clouded his mind. Now that he thought of it, he only knew two captains in the whole of Gotei 13. Sure, he had some memories of each that would be rekindled when he met them. But off the top of his head, he only knew the Commander General Yamamoto Genryuusai Skigekuni and Captain Unohana Retsu. _Meeting each of the captains will be quite an adventure, _thought Ichigo. It was at this point that the door opened and in stormed the captain of the 2nd division. Ichigo couldn't help but stare. _A WOMAN??? _He thought over and over. _How can a woman be the commander of the special forces?_

There was a long pause between them before the captain said, "Welcome, Kurosaki Ichigo, to the 2nd squad and your new training ground."

She flashed an evil grin at him.

Ichigo groaned. He had suddenly remembered some things about this particular captain. He could tell that this division was not going to be a stroll in the park.

Authors notes:

hey all,

thanks for staying with me this far into the story. I dont think that im gonna do 3rd, 5th and 9th squad. I dont think that it would be right without (SPOILER ALERT) the captains of those. If people really want me to do them, then let me know in the reviews, or if you find some other way... whatever

cheers all


	8. 2nd Division

**A NEW HOPE pt8**

Ichigo had been with the 2nd squad for nearly three days now. Aside from moving all his (dead) life possessions into his quarters and briefly meeting with several members of the squad, he had done nothing. He was beginning to become restless. When he wasn't invited out to some occasion with Soi Fong or another officer, he simply wandered Seireitei and talked to everyone he saw. If he wasn't doing that, he would sit in his quarters and think about everyone that he knew in his recent life. By far his fondest memory was when he had first entered Seireitei. He could remember hundreds of people smiling as he walked through the gates. Now that he thought about it, he realised that even the cold, standoff ish Soi Fong had been grinning and cheering. With so much free time, Ichigo had managed to meet most of the people that had really stood out from that encounter and found out some things about each. He was looking forward to his stay with several of the divisions. 13th for obvious reasons, 4th and 6th because they held the three people that he had known the longest, and the 10th division. Recently his "schedule" had been confirmed. He would stay with the squad until said squad's captain deemed him ready to move on. 3Rd, 5th, 7th and 9th were not involved in the exercise.

Ichigo was jerked away from his thoughts when the door suddenly opened. Standing in the doorway was Soi Fong. "You got in a fight with another student before you came here." It wasn't a question. Ichigo decided to answer anyway.

"Yea. So what?" Came his reply. There was a pause.

"Do you know what the 2nd division specialises in?"

"I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say, fighting?"

"That is correct. You will show me what you can do." Again, Ichigo noticed that it was very much a command.

As Soi Fong entered the sparring ground with Ichigo in tow, she instantly noticed that the rest of her division had shown up to watch. She didn't know how they had known that they were about to fight. But then again, their job was to spy on people.

As she walked over to the far side of the ground, the 2nd division captain watched Ichigo. Taking in everything that he did. The way he stood and held himself. He didn't seem to know exactly what he was doing. _I don't know why I'm doing this. This will be over in less than 10 seconds._ She thought. According to the documents that had been released from the teachers that had taken Ichigo during his brief stay at the academy. Ichigo didn't even know how to control his spirit pressure. There was no way that he would be any match for her. _Ah well, nothing will help but practice._ With that thought she started the fight.

Ichigo wasn't even aware that she had moved before her fist crashed into his head. He fell to the ground completely dazed. She appeared before him, her movements too fast for him to follow. She made a slashing motion across his throat and intoned. "You are dead. 1." She then appeared on the other side of the arena. Ichigo got to his feet again and prepared himself. This time, she simply ran towards him. She jumped and kicked out at his head. He raised a hand to block the attack when she disappeared again. Ichigo's first warning that she was behind him was the tiny sound that her feet made as she spun. He tried to turn to block but was too slow. His feet were swept out from under him and he fell in a ragged heap onto the ground. She then proceeded to step on his throat. "2."

Several hours and hundreds of "deaths" later, Ichigo noticed that the entire crowd of shinigami had left. He had been so focused on trying to block even a single one of Soi Fong's ferocious attacks that he hadn't even noticed. With that thought gone he returned his efforts on defending himself. He hadn't managed to stop a single attack yet, let alone hit the elusive captain. Recently however, he had been able to see her attacks. It was just that he wasn't able to move fast enough to block them. He saw her in time to see the fly kick that was aimed at his chest. It was just like any of the hundred other kicks that she had unleashed, but this time, Ichigo felt different. As if she was moving much slower than she should have been. Ichigo easily sidestepped the kick, as he did, he grabbed her shin and stepped towards her raising his elbow. He felt the shock of the impact go up his arm. She fell back and landed heavily on her back. Ichigo stepped forward and brought his hand across her throat and said with a grin, "You are dead."

After a second, the surprise faded from her face and she grinned back. Ichigo was taken aback, this was the first time that he had seen her truly smile since he had arrived. She looked surprisingly... attractive with that smile. He offered his hand and she took it. He hoisted her to her feet. She looked at him, still smiling and said, "Today's training is over. You are dismissed."

"Yes ma'am." Ichigo released her hand and silently turned to leave the arena.

"Ichigo?" She said quickly. He turned around. "If you need any help with anything. Don't hesitate to ask." He again broke out into a grin. Nodded and proceeded to leave. _Maybe this squad wasn't so bad._ He thought.

When he was gone, Soi Fong stood staring at her hand. She knew that she shouldn't be feeling anything but some pain, but her hand would not stop tingling. Although it was completely unprofessional, she was almost disappointed that he was ready to advance so soon.

Authors notes:

Hey guys, hope you liked it. I couldnt put much else in there. Yes i know that soi fong was OOC but hey. My story my rules. :P

cheers all


	9. 4th Division

**A NEW HOPE pt9**

He had been frustrated when the order to move to the 4th squad had come through. The days with the 2nd had been good. Easily some of the better days of his new life. The simply fact that Soi Fong had started smiling when he saw her made his day. People had commented that to Ichigo about how they hadn't seen her so happy for a long time. Ichigo had even made some strong friendships within the special forces squad. _That could come in handy. _He thought with a smirk. Don't get him wrong, Ichigo had been looking forward to coming to the 4th division. It held two of the people that he had known longest in his entire life. It was just that he was slightly worried about leaving Soi Fong, (stupid as that may sound, her being a captain and all) he was just worried that she would immediately go back to being an insensitive rock. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

All these thoughts were running through his mind as he gazed around at his new quarters. His room was next door to the lieutenant's. _Isana or something like that, _thought Ichigo vaguely. She had been the person that had come to help him move his meagre possessions. From the beginning, Ichigo could tell that she was slightly uneasy about him. Every time he caught her looking at him, she would look away far too quickly. He had simply shrugged it off as her simply being shy. Checking the time for the 5th time in the last half hour, he saw that it was time to go. He slowly got to his feet and started moving to the captains office. As he passed the lieutenant's room, he knocked on the door loudly.

"Good morning Ichigo," pronounced the best healer in all of Seireitei from behind her desk. Ichigo noticed that she hadn't changed since he had first met her, when he had woken up in some godforsaken corner of Rukongai. "I simply wanted to officially welcome you to the 4th squad. The most proficient healing unit in the Gotei 13." She said the last with a small smile of satisfaction. Ichigo heard a small noise behind him and turned to see the lieutenant slowly opening the door.

"Sorry I'm late ma'am."

"Not a problem Isane," _Isane, my bad. _Thought Ichigo, "please come in and sit."

"Yes ma'am." The door was silently shut behind them.

There was a pause as they waited for Isane to sit down in the chair next to Ichigo. The silence was broken by Unohana. "Ichigo," she started, "we believe that you do not have your zanpakutou at the moment. Is that correct?" Ichigo nodded. Unohana continued, "In normal circumstances, you would not have gotten nearly as far as you are now without your zanpakutou, but obviously, you are a slight exception to this rule." She looked at Ichigo and Isane. Isane shifted uncomfortably. There was another pause, before. "Do you remember Yoruichi?"

Ichigo blinked. Like many things, although he got the feeling that he should know it, the name had no meaning to him. "Not really." He replied.

Unohana smiled. "That could make things slightly more interesting.

Ichigo wasn't sure if he liked that smile.

The door opened to reveal a large training ground. According to Isane, it was the largest in all of Seireitei. Ichigo stared into the distance. He couldn't even make out the far wall of this place. He was so focused on the distance that he didn't notice the black cat that was sitting at his feet looking up at him. Unohana decided that the cat should be brought to Ichigo's attention.

"Ichigo," she said and gestured at the cat, "meet Yoruichi."

Ichigo looked down at the creature, it was purring. Finally he said, "Is this some sort of joke?"

The cat suddenly stopped purring. Ichigo noticed this and looked down.

"So it's true then? You have lost your memory."

Ichigo screamed. Due to all the dust that was blowing around the place, it half caught in his throat. The result was a little girly wail followed by him coughing violently.

Yoruichi seemed to find this highly amusing and starting purring again.

Eventually, Ichigo composed himself. However, he was still keeping his distance from Yoruichi, noticed Unohana. Suddenly, Ichigo was staring at Yoruichi without any sense of shame. Finally he said, "I know you."

Yoruichi raised a feline eyebrow, "After all we went through together, I should hope so."

At this point, Isane butted in. "Yoruichi! You should be thanking Ichigo! He's the reason that you were allowed back in Seireitei!" She suddenly realised that everyone was staring at her and she turned red.

After a moment, Yoruichi turned back to Ichigo. "That is true Ichigo, I should be thanking you for what you did. If you hadn't come on your mad attempt at saving Rukia, I would still be an outcast."

By this point, it seemed that Ichigo had completely remembered Yoruichi. He was still staring at her when something seemed to have dawned on him, he said, "Why are you in that form? I thought that you prefered your human one?"

Again, Yoruichi's eyebrow twitched. "It seems that you do indeed remember me. If you know, then there is no fun in surprising you again." She paused and looked at him slyly, "do you really think that I would prefer to be in my human form? Or have you simply become more perverted in this life?"

Ichigo smiled coyly at her. "Maybe both."

Yoruichi laughed as she started the transformation. When it was completed, she stood before Ichigo, utterly naked without shame. "I see that you aren't as shy as you were in your previous life." She said with a smile. Turning around to look at the surroundings, she said, "We may as well start the training that you came down here to do."

Ichigo was now truly confused, "What training are we doing?" he asked.

Unohana smiled. "You Ichigo, are going to find your zanpakutou."

Ichigo stood before a strange doll. He could remember something like it that Yoruichi had dragged out when he had been trying to achieve bankai. _Now I gotta start all over again. _He thought sourly.

"What am I meant to do to this one?" Inquired Ichigo.

"This one Ichigo is slightly different to the older one. You simply touch it and pour some of your spirit pressure into it. It will do the rest."

Ichigo gave the three women doubtful looks. They all returned reassuring ones. Deciding that there was nothing for it, Ichigo stepped towards the doll and placed his hands on its head. He slowly released some of his power. He watched his pressure snaking towards the doll, he was amazed to see that when it touched the doll, it simply ceased to exist. It was destroyed to such a point that Ichigo couldn't even remember releasing it. As a result, he kept pouring his power into it. After several hours, he started getting tired, he continued though. In his memory, he was just beginning. Eventually, Ichigo couldn't keep it up. He had pushed himself to exhaustion, it was impossible to keep going. Darkness started creeping into his vision. He was dimly aware or hitting the ground seconds before he passed out.

From her vantage point, Yoruichi watched over Ichigo as he collapsed. Isane and Unohana were long gone by this point, claiming that they had division work that needed doing.

Yoruichi didn't really mind, this gave her time to think. She knew that Ichigo wouldn't be awake for several hours.

When he opened his eyes, Ichigo could only see black. It was so black that he wasn't even sure if his eyes were truly open. He lay there for a moment, thinking about what had happened. He realised that he couldn't remember much. There was Yoruichi and that doll, then nothing. As he got to his feet, Ichigo took in his surroundings. More and more black. He did a complete turn and still saw nothing.

"Hello Ichigo." Came a gruff voice from behind him. Ichigo didn't jump, he wasn't even surprised. He had no idea how, but he was expecting this voice. Without turning to face him, Ichigo replied. "Old man."

"Let us begin."

Yoruichi was getting bored, she had been watching Ichigo's body for about four hours. She knew it was meant to take about this long, but still.

Ichigo blocked another punch by the crazy old man as he retreated. As he did so, he thought over the words that the man had said at the beginning of all this.

"_Let us begin. Death is what decides this battle."_

There hadn't been much warning. After he had said that, he had immediately started the attack, it had been all Ichigo could do not to be hit. It had been about four hours since then. He had been blocking attacks all that time.

Ichigo ducked another group of violently powerful attacks, before he saw an opening and lunged for it. The old man caught the attack and returned with his own. Ichigo didn't see the old mans foot before it hit him across the face. Stumbling back, he quickly wiped the blood out of his eye to see his opponents palm rushing towards him. It caught him on the chin and threw him backwards even further. When he hit the ground, he heard a sickening snap. Looking down at his arm, he saw that it was twisted in a grotesque way. Despite this, Ichigo couldn't help but feel that something was odd about it all. It took him several seconds before he realised something. It didn't hurt at all. In fact, when he thought about it, none of the previous hits hurt either.

Despite the fact that he had been on the back foot all this time, he now knew that he would win this. This was HIS mind, what he wants, goes. Looking up at the old man standing apart from him. He grinned. With his good arm, he reached over and took hold of the other. Giving it a sharp tug, he heard it crack back into place. The old man smiled back, "So you have finally realised. Then kill me." He suddenly appeared before Ichigo and prepared to hit him. The punch seemed to moving far too slow. Ichigo simply stepped to the side and watched it pass him by. The old man the tried to come back towards Ichigo with his elbow. Instead of simply dodging this one, as he ducked, Ichigo punished the old mans exposed ribs with a brutal kick. As he rose from his crouch, he noticed the man slowly reacting to the hit. Again, Ichigo watched in fascination. Suddenly he remembered what the old man had said at the beginning of all this. _Death is what decides this battle._

_Whatever. _Thought Ichigo as he stepped forward. Ichigo felt the old man's ribcage collapse as he punched him in the chest. As the he did this, the man disappeared, and all of the pain that they had inflicted on each other throughout the battle suddenly fell on Ichigo's already weary mind and threw it again into darkness.

The very first thing that he saw when he opened his eyes was the roof of his 4th division quarters. As he turned his head, he saw Unohana and Yoruichi sitting next to his bed.

"Congratulations Ichigo," murmured Yoruichi as she held up a sword, "you now have your zanpakutou."


	10. Let off some steam

Sorry 'bout the wait.

**A NEW HOPE pt10**

He was out of breath as he slid around the final corner. His morning run had taken longer than expected due to a chatty, hugely endowed lieutenant that had spotted him halfway and refused to let him continue without being informed of all the latest gossip. At the time, Ichigo had enjoyed the chat. He wouldn't admit it, but he was warming to the easy going nature of the 10th second. After the chat however, he had realised that he probably wouldn't make it in time.

He was due in the 6th division soon. He knew that if he was late, Byakuya would give him that icy glare again. Ichigo had developed somewhat of a rebellious streak in him, but despite that, he couldn't stand up to that stare. Just thinking about it made him shiver. As he approached the sliding doors, he had a pathetic, last second attempt at composing himself. Of course, it failed horribly. He opened the doors dripping in sweat and looking completely disheveled.

As expected, he was stopped in his tracks by _the look_.

"Sorry I'm late."

Byakuya said nothing and continued with his paperwork. Taking this as his cue, Ichigo stepped past the desk and continued into the back room.

Seeing the one of his oldest friends in the room helped Ichigo relax somewhat.

"Hey Ichigo," murmured the man in question as he barely glanced up from cleaning his zanpakutou, "what's up?"

"I apologise for being late." Ichigo said through gritted teeth. He hated having to refer to his friends in a formal way. "It won't happen again."

"Damn straight," replied Renji with a grin. "C'mon man, we got some work to do. From what I heard, you don't know how to fight with your zanpakutou. I'm gonna change that."

Ichigo was now standing across from Renji in a sparring ground. He automatically took in his surroundings. Looking for anything that might give him an advantage. Seeing that nothing here would give him much help, he focused back onto Renji. Renji grinned and slowly drew his sword, Ichigo also drew his own. Ichigo instantly noticed the weight difference, _That's gonna slow me down_, he thought.

He shifted his weight onto his back foot as he saw Renji lean forward slightly. As he had thought, the attack came hard and fast. Ichigo just managed to sidestep and avoid the ferocious slash, he watched as it seemed to part the air past him. Renji wasn't surprised by the movement and shifted the attack so the flash point was his elbow. Ichigo, being on the back foot from already moving, was unable to dodge the second attack. His vision blurred slightly as he was struck. Quickly recovering, Ichigo prepared to move again. It was this preparation that prevented him from being cleaved in two. _Is he actually trying to kill me? _Ichigo thought wildly as he reeled backwards. Again, he recovered. This time, he saw an opening in Renji's defence. Deciding to take it, he lunged in sword point arcing towards his enemies exposed ribs. Stopping at the last second, point tip just touching the skin, Ichigo looked up and grinned. "You are dead."

Renji looked surprised for a second before he stepped back and slashed at Ichigo again. Ichigo was so surprised that he barely managed to dodge it. Feeling a burning sensation on his cheek, he reached up. Looking at his hand, he saw his own blood.

It was Renji's turn to grin, "I feel pretty good for a dead guy."

A moment passed before Ichigo grinned back. "You, my friend. Are a complete bastard."

Renji barked out a harsh laugh before looking back at Ichigo, "You don't seem to have lost too much of your speed. That's good, but you seem to have forgotten how to really use your sword. We are gonna have to work on that."

Without any more warning, Renji started the next attack, with no time to dodge, Ichigo merely moved with the hit to minimize damage. "BLOCK IT ICHIGO!!!" Renji roared as he slashed again, going for his head this time. With no other option, Ichigo did as he was told. Ichigo's sword clashed with Renji's as he stopped the violent blow. The next attack was from Ichigo, a vicious counter that sent Renji reeling. Not one to waste an opportunity, Ichigo stepped in and knocked the sword from Renji's hand. Surprisingly, Renji wasn't too fussed about this. Stepping under Ichigo's next attack, he dealt him a vicious blow to the nose through the palm of his hand. Now it was Ichigo's turn to stumble backwards. Like clockwork, Renji stepped in and removed the sword from Ichigo's hands. As Renji stepped back to survey his work, Ichigo got back to his feet. Wincing, he touched his nose. It was obviously badly broken. Taking a deep breath, Ichigo crushed it back into place and grinned at Renji. It hurt like hell, but the badass appearance was completely worth it. Renji looked slightly taken aback by this, if only momentarily. Ichigo took up the opportunity to initiate the clinch. Something that he had learnt with his childhood friend Tatsuki. Grabbing Renji's neck with both hands, Ichigo started to squeeze. Renji started to struggle to remove his hands, but Ichigo had the upper hand. Ichigo grinned manically at Renji. With all the blood oozing from various wounds on his face, Renji couldn't help but flinch. "Don't look down mate! Whatever you do, don't you dare look down!"

Naturally, Renji looked down. He was met by Ichigo's knee as it rushed up towards him before all went black.

As Ichigo dragged Renji's limp form back into Byakuya's office, he couldn't help but laugh softly to himself. He didn't even know why he was laughing, he had a broken nose, deep gashes all over his body and he had just beaten one of his best mates into a bloody pulp. Despite all this, he felt fantastic. He decided that he would do this more often. Byakuya looked up as the two men entered, albeit one was being dragged. He paled slightly, (if that was possible).

Ichigo was supremely surprised, he had never seen anything phase the 6th captain before. _Then again, _he mused, _I must look rather scary. _

"I presume that you were the victor?" Came the voice of the now composed captain.

"That's what it looks like sir." Replied Ichigo through grated teeth. He would have to work on this authority problem.

There was a long pause as Byakuya filled out another sheet rather hurriedly. Finally, he spoke, "Very well. It seems that you have passed."

"Thankyou sir." This was one squad he wouldn't miss.

As he left, he thought he saw the calm and composed captain fall upon his vice and start trying to wake him.

Maybe just a trick of the mind.


	11. A Good Time

**A NEW HOPE pt11**

Ichigo had been semi glad to get away from the 6th division. He wasn't happy to be leaving one of his mates behind and he had definitely enjoyed the "test" that had been provided by Renji but he didn't think that he would be able to stand another day with the icy captain. _Why can't he learn to loosen up a bit? _He thought to himself as he approached the entrance to his new home. As he neared the big doors he couldn't help but think about what this next division would be like. He had heard very little about the officers except that their names were Kyouraku Shunsui and Ise Nanoa. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the doors...

What he saw before him nearly made his jaw drop open. Not quite, he had seen several odd things before but then again, he hadn't expected this. The captain was running, check that, _frolicking_ after his vice. He seemed to be enjoying himself. She didn't. Ichigo could almost see something snap in her mind just before she spun on her heel and belted her captain in the face with the huge tome she had been toting around. It was obvious that he had become quite used to taking this sort of punishment because he merely fell the the floor instead of being completely obliterated like Ichigo was sure he would have been.

She turned towards Ichigo, he visibly flinched as her eyes flicked over him.

"Welcome Ichigo. I apologize for this." She gestured vaguely at the twitching figure on the floor at her feet. "I hope that you won't judge us from that." Although the statement was easy enough, her eyes changed the meaning somewhat substantially. _If you judge me, you will end up like him._ Ichigo found that his throat wasn't working so he simply nodded.

Satisfied, she turned on her heel and left the room.

As soon as Ichigo was sure she was gone, he dropped his things and moved to the captain.

"Jesus mate, you alright?" Shunsui rolled onto his back and looked up at Ichigo.

"You have beautiful eyes." It was obvious that he was quite disorientated, at least Ichigo hoped he was. Helping him to his feet, Ichigo wondered if he would ever meet anyone that was at least slightly normal.

_Six hours later_

"Youuuu are the beeest perthon I have everr met..." This statement was followed by hysterical laughter by both people. As soon as Shunsui had become coherent from that huge book, he had decided that a new member in his squad was reason to celebrate. He had pulled bottle after bottle of sake from the most ridiculous hiding places. Ichigo's personal favourite had been when Shunsui had revealed the fact that the bottom half of the pot plants was in fact a keg of the stuff. It hadn't taken too long for both men to be completely wasted. They had been swapping stories and jokes ever since. Ichigo had immediately taken a great liking to this man. He had never been drunk before and he had decided that he had been missing out. He thought about his last captain, _Shunsui would be great for him. He needs someone make him chill out. _

"THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!!!!!" Yelled out Shunsui. It was only then that Ichigo realized that he had been thinking out loud.

"Let's go and get 'im!"

Although Ichigo felt deep down that this would only end badly, his inebriated mind wouldn't listen. Without thinking twice, he and Shunsui wandered all around Seireitei singing songs that neither knew the words to while looking for a particularly cold captain. They met nearly every person that Ichigo knew of while they continued their search. Most people would simply ignore them as they staggered by, but some people would stop and talk. Renji and Matsumoto even joined them in their eternal quest. Now with a full quartet, the songs raged even louder. With four people, you might think that at least one might know the words to whatever ditty they were belting out with gusto, but somehow they managed to avoid the odds. It had been nearly 2 hours since they had begun their "QUEST!!!" as they referred to it before they finally found their victim. Of course by this point they had completely forgotten the original objective and simply asked the captain where should the "QUEST!!!" take them next. Byukuya simply looked at them with cold eyes before he told them to leave. They did so with great haste, desperate to continue with their mission.

As they approached a small park, Ichigo suddenly felt incredibly tired. He stumbled forward before falling onto the grass. Shunsui and Matsumoto followed suit. Ichigo noticed that Matsumoto's chest seemed to momentarily defy gravity as she fell. Renji was about the collapse into a heap next to the others when when he heard a voice behind him.

"You have work to do."

He jumped and turned in one movement only to see Byukuya standing barely a foot away from him giving him his famous blank look. Renji nodded weakly as Byukuya disappeared.

Renji groaned before waving goodbye to the three on the ground and beginning the long walk home.

_Ichigo opened his eyes to see the claws rushing towards him at a frightening speed. He barely had time to breath before he felt them penetrate. Blood splattered all over the ground just in front of him as he fell to his knees. He grimaced as the hollow before him pulled its claws from his body. He looked up at the monster before him and grinned. He knew, somehow he knew that this wasn't over. He was going to find this thing. As soon as this thought had left his mind. The world around him shimmered. Confused, he looked left and right. Seeing that nothing much had changed, he once again turned to face the thing before him, he was surprised to see that the hollow now had a blade protruding through its sickly mask. Following the blade up to the hilt, he saw his own hand holding it. The surprise was short lived, he grinned evilly and freed the blade from its bloody prison only to re embed it as he slashed across the monsters face. The grin stayed on his face to the last second until the hollow's mask cracked..._

_The next morning_

Ichigo sat upright panting. He looked around him trying to take in his surroundings. He had managed to figure out that he was in a park somewhere. He couldn't think of how he got there though. He tried to shift his weight off his left hand as he stood, only to find that he was somehow anchored to the ground. Looking down, he saw Matsumoto clinging to his arm while mumbling something in her sleep. Smiling to himself, he tried to bring his other arm across to try to free himself only to find that this was stuck too. He turned to see what was holding him down this time. He flinched when he saw what had happened. Shunsui was holding this arm while sucking on his thumb. _That's a little weird. _He thought to himself. He noticed with that Shunsui had even drooled on his sleeve for him. Sighing to himself, he simply wrenched arm from Shunsui's grasp and gently freed himself from Matsumoto. This resulted in only Shunsui waking up. He sat up very slowly while holding his head. Ichigo was too new to alcohol to have a hangover but Shunsui was not, obviously. He turned around again to be met by a terrifying sight. Shunsui's vice had found them.

_3 Hours later_

Ichigo's hand cramped up again. He groaned in agony as he tried to stretch it out. Shunsui leant over to see what the problem was. The stern vice promptly cuffed them both.

"Back to work."

Shunsui tried to reason with her, "But Nanoa-chan why do OW!!" He had chosen the wrong words.

Ichigo decided that it would probably be best to simply continue doing the paperwork without a fuss until he was sent to the next division. Hand cramps were nothing compared to the wrath that "Nanoa-chan" could call down upon any person that happened to fall onto her bad side.

_Authors notes: Heya peoples, sorry bout all the waits. See if any of you guys can guess what/who was under the mask. You get it right and il send you the next chapter before its posted up. _

_Cheers all_


	12. 10th Division

**A NEW HOPE pt12**

Truth be told, Ichigo was bummed about leaving the 8th. Some of the things that he had done with Shunsui had been good fun. He couldn't figure out what those "fun" things were due to the fact that you rarely remember anything when your brain is nearly floating in ethanol, but still. Despite all this, he still managed to be looking forward to seeing Matsumoto again. Sure he had learnt to hold his liquor with Shunsui, but from what he had seen, Matsumoto was nothing but a master.

From what he had heard from her, the 10th captain was nearly always a "meanie" who was obsessed with paperwork. The "lovely, lovely Nanoa-chan" had firmly embedded into his mind the idea that paperwork was nothing but the spawn of Satan. He desperately hoped that the "training", if it could be described as such, would veer away and stay away from anything to do with a brush.

He could remember making a promise to Matsumoto that he would help to loosen up her captain. Now that certain events involving the same plan for another icy captain had come to pass, Ichigo seriously doubted that he would end up achieving anything.

As he walked through the doors into the office of his new boss, he noticed two things. The room was incredibly tidy. It was amazing. The second thing was not so spectacular. Matsumoto was lying in the corner surrounded by enough sake to OD on at least 5 times. Ichigo noticed a small puddle of her own drool had pooled around her chin. Trying to shake the image, he turned towards the desk. He was in for a third surprise. _What sorta captain makes a kid do all his paperwork? _The kid had obviously noticed him and seemed to be waiting for Ichigo to say something. Misinterpreting this as him awaiting to take orders, Ichigo obliged.

"Hey kid, can you get the captain for me. Tell him that Ichigo is here."

Ichigo suddenly felt that it was remarkably cold inside this place. He recalled Matsumoto saying things about how cold the captain was. Still not making the connection, he persisted.

"Jeez mate, does your captain always make the temp match his personality?"

It was at this point that Ichigo noticed that the "kid" was wearing a captains cloak.

_Oooohh shit._

There wasn't a single person in Seireitei that didn't suddenly want to be wearing a heavy cloak. Also, every person that felt this need also heard the yell that erupted from the direction of the 10th division.

Yamamoto turned to his vice.

"How long would say that was?" He inquired.

"22 seconds sir."

"Hmmmm. New record."

The emotionless vice nodded before scratching out the previous 59 mark and replacing it with 22.

Ichigo was up against the wall, arms and legs encased in solid blocks of ice. Ichigo barely noticed the cold as two words kept racing through his mind. _OH FUCK! OH FUCK! OH FUCK!_

Thankfully, he was saved by one of "QUEST!" buddies who had awoken from her drunken stupor to see her friend about the be force fed an icicle.

"Shirou-kun! I thought your taste leant more towards Hinamori!" The tiny captain's eyes seemed to go even colder than before as he looked at his impudent vice, she continued anyway. "I guess whatever makes you happy! As long as I can have him after!" She threw Ichigo a wink and turned away to resume her nonstop drinking. Despite the situation, Ichigo couldn't help feeling hot as his face and neck went red. Hitsugaya seemed to have calmed down slightly, check that, had found someone else to focus his anger upon. Ichigo felt the ice that was trapping him slowly melt away. He noticed at the last second that his feet seemed to be taking longer than the rest of his body. The result was that he fell forward onto the edge of the table instead of straight down. Just before he went into the oblivion, he thought to himself. _There is NO WAY I'm gonna be able to make him relax. _

_He knew, somehow he knew that this wasn't over. He was going to find this thing. As soon as this thought had left his mind. The world around him shimmered. Confused, he looked left and right. Seeing that nothing much had changed, he once again turned to face the thing before him, he was surprised to see that the hollow now had a blade protruding through its sickly mask. Following the blade up to the hilt, he saw his own hand holding it. The surprise was short lived, he grinned evilly and freed the blade from its bloody prison only to re embed it as he slashed across the monsters face. The grin stayed on his face to the last second until the hollow's mask cracked... He nearly didn't recognise the face for a moment, it was so bloody and bruised. Even as he looked upon himself, he felt a sense of well being overcome him. The hollow before him collapsed into a heap before slowly disappearing._

As Ichigo came to, he saw several things. Hitsugaya was leaning over him with a worried look on his face. He instantly transformed back into the stern captain from before when he realised Ichigo was awake. He also knew that he was lying in Matsumoto's lap. He couldn't see her face but he knew. It was hard to _not_ know. He slowly sat up, avoiding any _obstacles_ as he did so. When he was fully upright, he touched his head where he had hit the table. Feeling that there was a lot of blood, he decided that he would lie back down for a while. _Might as well enjoy this privilege for as long as I can. _He thought wryly.

_2 hours later_

Again, Ichigo woke with a start. He hadn't even realised that he had gone to sleep. He yawned loudly and felt something drip into his mouth. Not having a clue what just happened, he looked up at the sleeping face of Matsumoto. _Oh my god. _He thought to himself as he recalled an image of her sleeping. _There was a small puddle of her own drool that had pooled around her chin. _He almost gagged. He quickly rolled off her lap to avoid any more "rain" only to roll straight into the table again. Crying out in agony, Ichigo climbed to his feet. He could swear that that desk had been on the other side of the room. Giving the offending piece of furniture evils, he stumbled across to the desk that he had seen the feisty young captain doing paperwork the night before. He had no idea what he was meant to be doing. The captain hadn't shown up and it seemed that Matsumoto wasn't coherent enough to be giving any orders. Sighing, he took the opportunity to explore the grounds. Deciding that didn't want to get completely lost, he dragged Matsumoto along.

He wandered around the various training grounds with Matsumoto in his wake mumbling profanities about having to get up at 11am. Not seeing "Shirou-kun" anywhere, he decided to ask someone of his whereabouts. He seemed to be having difficulty in finding someone that wouldn't avoid his eyes. Eventually he decided the direct approach.

"OI YOU! WHERE IS..." he turned to Matsumoto,

"Hitsugaya," she replied.

"WHERE IS HITSUGAYA?"

The young man almost collapsed in fear as he realised that Ichigo was directing the questions at him.

"H-he is at t-the 5th squad." He paused before he seemed to remember something, "SIR!" he finished.

Satisfied, Ichigo turned away and left the terrified man to do as he pleased. This involved running, very, very fast.

"Maybe you should have washed the blood off you before you wandered around." Stated Matsumoto. Surprised, Ichigo touched his temple and laughed to himself when he felt that over half his face had been completely caked in dried blood.

_30 mins later_

Ichigo strolled into the 5th division headquarters. He immediately saw Hitsugaya at the desk seemingly doing paperwork. The blush on his face showed that there was something more to it. This point was only reinforced when the voice of Hinamori Momo reverberated from under the desk.

"I found it!"

Ichigo's and Matsumoto's eyebrows shot up.

"Should we come back later?" Asked Matsumoto in a sultry voice that only added to Hitsugaya's obvious discomfort.

"I merely dropped a stamp." Stated the flustered young man rather too quickly as a red faced Hinamori emerged.

"Oh I'm sure."

Hitsugaya noticed a look on his 2nd's face that meant _you are not going to live this down easily._

Sighing to himself he asked, "What do we have to do to make this go away?"

Seeing this as a way to get through another division and keep a promise to his well endowed friend, he proposed his idea.

_40 minutes later_

"OI! BARKEEP DUDE!" The so called ''barkeep dude'' blanched as he saw that he was being addressed by a captain, 2 lieutenants and a man who was covered in blood.

"Yes sir?" He asked as he hurried over to the party to serve them.

"I WANT THAT ONE!" Yelled the now completely wasted Ice King as he gestured as only a drunk man can. The bartender pushed down any queries of the man's age as he desperately attempted to figure out what he had pointed at.

"FASTER!" Yelled a pink Hinamori moments before she passed out. Ichigo barely caught her before she hit the ground. Matsumoto had buried herself in bottle after bottle of some sort of alcohol that was so strong Ichigo would personally describe it as industrial strength paint stripper. Despite this, she seemed nearly unfazed by it. Ichigo could feel the effects of the alcohol on his mind but it was obvious that he was better off than both Hinamori and Hitsugaya. Hinamori was completely unconscious and Hitsugaya... well suffice it to say that the bartender would never be the same man again. He had chosen the wrong drink twice now. Sighing to himself, he dragged Hinamori off to the bathroom to try to revive her.

About 3 bartenders and 5 drinks apiece later, Ichigo realised something, both Hinamori and Matsumoto seemed to be leaning on him. Not only that but as he looked around, he saw even more women glancing at him. Never having many experiences with women and remembering Rukia, he decided that it was probably best to avoid them. Looking around for any male that he start talking to, he found solace in two burly people that were walking towards them.

"Heyyy!" He managed to slur out before the first bouncer picked him and Matsumoto up and carried them to the door before deftly throwing them out. They were followed by Hitsugaya and Hinamori in much the same manner. Before the doors closed on them, Ichigo saw the bartender literally kissing the hands of the two bouncers.

3 seconds later, Ichigo had completely forgotten about all this as a brilliant idea struck him. He should try to loosen up the 6th division captain. He was too cold all the time anyway. He informed the others of his brilliant idea and they ran into the night screaming "A QUEST!!!" at the tops of their lungs and singing ditties that none knew the words to.

_Authors notes: I just had to put that in. Iv always had that idea in my mind, Hitsugaya getting blackmailed into having a good time. Thats what he would need anyway. Now what do you think o' that? Any ideas that you could share with me? Pointers or whatever? Would be appreciated greatly!_

_Hope you enjoyed_

_again, MERRY CHRISTMAS!_

_cheers_


	13. Blood in the Rain

**A NEW HOPE pt13 (First half)**

Ichigo did not feel good. He been awoken by a rather energetic Hitsugaya nearly an hour ago. It was amazing how much he had changed since that night in the bar. Ichigo was still deciding which personality he liked better. Since the young captain had jumped on him in an attempt to make him start his day at the godforsaken hour of 8am, Ichigo had been lying in his bed trying to fall back into the blissful slumber and escape from several realities. He was leaving the 10th today and he had a hangover. Hearing Hitsugaya approaching his room again no doubt to see if he was awake, Ichigo decided that it was indeed time to get up. He climbed out of bed and staggered across to his wardrobe to get changed and pack up. Several minutes later, he was wandering down towards the 11th. He had heard that the captain, Zaraki Kenpachi was completely unstable and his lieutenant was nearly as bad. Not expecting much more by this point, he merely took it all in his stride and hoped that he would escape the fighting division with all limbs.

As he approached, he could hear the distinct sound of person forsaking his manlihood and screaming like a little girl quickly followed by the thunder of desperate running. As he rounded the next corner he nearly collided with the person responsible. More out of reflex than anything else, Ichigo brought his arms up to defend himself from any possible attack. As he did so, he felt a jolt go up his arm. Looking down, he saw that he had effectively disabled the man. He was still deciding what would be the best course of action at this point in time when a complete monster of a man rounded the corner. His one eye took in the scene with malicious intent as he grinned. Ichigo couldn't help but feel uneasy. He unconsciously prepared himself for another fight. At the same time, he realised that if it came to that, he probably wouldn't last long.

"Good shit Ichigo!" Boomed the giant's voice. "Good to see that you can still fight."

Ichigo stood silent. The man continued. "You an' me are gonna fight again sometime, but first, gotta make sure that you really know how."

Without another word the man turned and walked away leaving Ichigo to follow. He did, and found himself in an arena somewhat akin to the 2nd squad's. He saw several people had come to watch. The man mountain who was wearing his shredded captains robe pushed another big man into the arena across from Ichigo before walking up to him to take the bags. Ichigo studied him and came to the conclusion that he was probably around 5th seat. Once the captain was off the arena, Ichigo's opponent sprang into action.

Being completely taken by surprise, Ichigo only just managed to dodge. As he rolled away he drew his sword and spun to meet the next blow. The man's furious attacks scared Ichigo. He was throwing caution to the wind and simply attacking. Ichigo could see many openings in his defence, but as he tried to hit them, he realised that he didn't have enough time between the blows of the onslaught. It was all Ichigo could do just to stop being hit himself. He parried another slash at the side of his head and stepped in and punched the man in the throat. At least that's what he tried to do. Just as he did so, the man disappeared. He had seen Soifon and Byukuya flash step in the past but this just didn't seem comprehend at all. It was instinct alone that saved him from the next attack. He ducked and was rewarded with him being allowed to keep his head. As he turned in the crouch, he saw that his opponent was still following through from the last attack. Smiling inwardly, he stabbed upwards. He felt his blade sink into the flesh. Grinning in triumph and looked up. His opponent was incredibly pale. He frowned to himself and looked back to the wound. Upon closer inspection, he realised that he had cut deeper than intended. The blade had gone at least 4 inches into his groin. As his hands were quickly covered in blood that was flowing from the wound and showing no signs of stopping, he suddenly understood what had happened. The sword had completely severed an artery. Standing below him, Ichigo received the entire weight as the corpse of his opponent fell onto him.

Ichigo left the arena in a complete daze. He had no idea where he was going and he didn't really care. He wandered for several hours before sitting down on the edge of a road. It had started raining quite some time ago. Ichigo didn't care, he couldn't feel it anyway. He looked down at his hand, _They aren't mine_, he kept telling himself over and over. The rain had long since removed the stains from his hands but he couldn't stop seeing the blood that was all over his hands.

**Authors notes: Like you may have guessed from the title, there will be a second half to this particular squad.**

**Cheers all**


	14. Judgement

**A NEW HOPE pt14**

Ichigo couldn't believe it, he had hurt people before, but never actually killed someone. He had been sitting here in the rain for god knows how long now and had gone completely numb, save for his hands. They stayed sickly warm, no matter how much he tried to wash them, the blood didn't seem to come off. He didn't dare close his eyes for fear of seeing that scene over and over within a split second. Each time burning itself more into his mind. _As his hands were quickly covered in blood that was flowing from the wound and showing no signs of stopping, he suddenly understood what had happened._

Ichigo was only mildly aware of the people that approached him cautiously, and even less so when one of them first laid a hand on his shoulder. His body moved on autopilot and he had broken the man's fingers before he knew what he was doing. His first coherent thought had been that these people must be here to arrest him. These thoughts were thrown into a haze as he heard the man screaming in pain. He suddenly realised that he was on his feet staring back at the four men that were confronting him.

They all looked terrified, Ichigo barely even noticed the dirt and blood that would be covering his face. He took a step forward and they took one back, keeping the distance.

Ichigo figured that the man in the middle was the leader, due to the way that the others slightly tilted their heads towards him and glanced at him occasionally. His mouth opened, no noise came out for a moment as he seemed to be thinking as to what he should say.

"We aren't here to hurt you, we were told to come out and bring you back again. Forceably if necessary." That last statement was added with much less gusto than the previous.

Ichigo's field of view didn't incorporate the shadow that appeared behind him and the first notice that he got was an arm wrapping round his neck. Ichigo's eyes glazed over and his struggles became weaker and weaker as the hold limited his circulation.

As he hit the ground the other shinigami jumped onto him. Subduing him so he couldn't attack his original assailant. Ichigo's vision was blurring and he could barely breathe. He felt his arm connect with another person and felt giddy with his achievement before said person crouched over him and knocked him out with a swift rabbit punch to the face.

Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain. That's all that Ichigo could think of as he woke. He gingerly touched his nose to find that it had seemingly disappeared. Then remembering the punch that had subdued him, he realised that it must have been so badly broken that some of it had retreated back into his skull. As he lay still ignoring the pain as best as he could, hoping desperately that someone would come in and make it all go away. For the first time in his recent life, Ichigo couldn't summon the energy to do anything at all. As he closed his eyes, he slowly escaped the unbelievable pain by retreating back into blissful sleep.

_Blood splattered all over the ground just in front of Ichigo as he fell to his knees. He grimaced as the Hollow before him pulled its claws from his body. He looked up into it's eyes just before he succumbed to the inky darkness that was slowly encroaching upon his vision and frowned. He knew those eyes, looking closer, he saw something in those eyes. With a shock he realised, he was looking at himself. The hollow Ichigo grinned evilly and reached towards Ichigo's face. As the claws touched his face, there was an incredible flash of pain._

Ichigo woke violently. Everything around him was tinged red, he couldn't move properly and there were people standing over him. He tried to break free from what he had established were straps holding him down and found that they were too strong. Ichigo saw a person that he recognised from the 4th squad crouching over him. He was too busy trying to remember his name to realise that the man was attaching something to what remained of his nose. Ichigo only noticed it when the pain hit him again. The clamp that was currently on his nose tightened, and was suddenly yanked upwards. The force was so violent that Ichigo himself probably would have been lifted off the ground if it weren't for the multiple straps that prevented him. The was a sickening CRAAAACK noise as Ichigo's nose was pulled back out from his skull.

At this point he began crying, the pain was so intense that it would have been impossible not to. The blood that had pooled in his eye sockets mixed with the tears and together they rolled down his cheeks leaving trails that were already beginning to dry in the cold. Ichigo didn't even notice the people standing in the corner of the tiny cell. There was a small, raven haired woman. She was being held up by the vice captain of the 6th squad and she was crying uncontrollably. Several others were standing around the pair. A white haired boy was trying desperately to not cry himself with his vice standing beside him not bothering to even try. A giant man was standing with a small girl on his shoulder, both of them looking sombre. A usually drunk man was standing with his vice trying to comfort her as she tried to bury herself in a book, pretending not to care. There was even a young woman wearing a white haori over the special forces uniform who wiped away a tear.

They all knew the punishment for murder.


End file.
